Square is now processing $10 billion in transactions annually

Square is probably the most formidable opponent to Google's push for the use of Google Wallet in retail stores. Not unlike Google Wallet, Square requires both the user and the retailer to have a special equipment -- an app for the former, and hardware for the latter -- to make everything work. And while Google has been struggling to get its infrastructure in place, even with MasterCard's help, Square seems to be taking off as the niche payment system right now. Square has just announced that it is processing over $10 billion in payments annually, and has increased its rate of transactions by $2 billion just this month.

TechCrunch notes that the $10 billion number doesn't even include payments processed via Starbucks, which just penned a deal with Square to set up its processing system in 7,000 stores. Maybe some of this pressure can get Google thinking about its Wallet strategy going into the future.

White 64GB HTC One S goes on sale in Taiwan, runs Jelly Bean out of the box

We're not going to lie, we're pretty envious of this one. According to ePrice, what we have here is the latest HTC One device to go on sale in Asia, specifically at this time in Taiwan. On the face of it, it's a regular old HTC One S, except that it's got a stunning new white paint job. Except, that's not the whole tale.

Inside, this HTC One S is packing some pretty impressive specs right out of the box. The latest version of HTC Sense, Sense 4+, running over Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. Oh, and 64GB of on board storage. Everything else remains the same, the same screen, processor, RAM, camera, all as they've ever been on the One S. But, for those among us who crave on board storage this One S would tick that box. Oh, and did we mention, it looks killer in white.

The bad news, for now at least, we're not seeing word of availability beyond HTC's native Taiwan. Pricing is said to be 17,900 Taiwan dollars, or about $616 or €485.

Echofon for Android beta now available in Google Play

Having been in public testing for a while, popular iOS Twitter client Echofon has now become available in the Google Play Store. We're still on the beta build though, it hasn't yet shed that tag. It doesn't -- on the face of it anyway -- appear to be further along in the build process than the beta version we previously looked at, but being available in the Play Store is the right way to get it onto devices.

We're pretty spoiled for choice when it comes to Twitter clients, but despite being late to the party on Android, Echofon has a long standing reputation on that other platform. The developers, Naan Studio, also recently discontinued their desktop applications to concentrate solely on mobile. It's a well designed Twitter client that despite being in beta performs really nicely. The design is very much Android 4.x but is available for everything running Android 2.2 and up.

SEGA's Jet Set Radio coming to Android on November 29th

Some of you weren't even alive when Jet Set Radio was released for the SEGA Dreamcast in June of 2000. That being said, if you've played Borderlands (or other cel-shaded graphics games) you can thank JSR for being one the pioneers of that style. Anyway, the game has been re-released in HD for Xbox Live, the Playstation Network, Windows, and like we reported earlier, is coming to Android. Granted, November 29th isn't exactly "this summer" like the original press release stated, but better late than never right?

While currently there has been no mention of price for Android (or iOS) it's currently $9.99 on Steam, so it's pretty safe to say it shouldn't cost more than that. If you'd like to check out more screenshots, head on over to their Flickr gallery.

Samsung Galaxy S3 coming to Cricket Nov 23rd for $549.99

Samsung is continuing its attempt at mobile dominance across the world by releasing yet another variant of its popular Galaxy SIII (S3) line, this time on Cricket. This model will be Cricket's second 4G LTE phone that it has released, in conjunction with its continued LTE rollout to new cities. In stark contrast to its first LTE phone, the LG Optimus Regard, this Galaxy S3 is still every bit the high-end device we know from other carriers.

Sure, its been available on other carriers for some time, but if Cricket is your carrier of choice its nice to have a high-end device available. The Galaxy S3 will be hitting Cricket on November 23rd for $549.99 without a contract, with monthly plans starting from $50 with 2GB of full-speed data.

Cricket rolls out several new 4G LTE markets

Cricket, the regional no-contract carrier under the Leap Wireless parent company, has expanded its 4G LTE footprint to several new cities. Customers in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Phoenix, Arizona; and Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Laredo, Corpus Christi and Brownsville-McAllen-Harlingen, Texas should see the service go live provided they're using one of Cricket's LTE handsets (currently only 2 available). Previously, Cricket's LTE footprint was only found in Tucson, Arizona and Las Vegas, Nevada.

This expansion completes what Cricket is calling its first phase of 4G LTE deployment, and the service now covers a potential of 21 million customers in the 11 markets.

Predators for Android review

The Predators game launched on Google Play last week, offering fast-paced stealth action with a healthy dose of gore. Many familiar names from the 2010 movie show up, though you spend most of your time hunting humans rather than playing as them - after all, folks only really watch those flicks for glimpses of the hulking monsters, right?

Players take control of a predator alien through 31 stages and an unlockable challenge mode, using a variety of classic weaponry and technology to complete a selection of goals. Sometimes a level is as simple as collecting a certain number of heads, while others require players to survive multiple waves of humans on the hunt.

HTC ThunderBolt vs. the Droid DNA

What a difference a year and a half makes, eh? OK, call it 20 months, maybe. Regardless, here's the brand-new Verizon Droid DNA, and the aging ThunderBolt. HTC phones, both. One represents the manufacturer's first go at an LTE device, back when the technology was new, and design (and battery life) suffered for it. A 4.3-inch display. Mere 1400 mAh battery. And, damn, was that thing ever thick.

Now we have the Droid DNA. A 5-inch Super LCD3 display that's got 1,080 freakin' pixels on the short end. A 2020 mAh battery. And a svelte design. Basically you're looking at the difference between me and a Victoria's Secret model. (Yeah. Enjoy that image.)

Anyway. Video and pics after the break, so you get a better idea of the difference between these guys.

PSA: Last chance to enter the Million Member Giveaway -- ending Nov. 15

You've got just one day left to enter the biggest and baddest contest the world has ever seen! We're celebrating one one million member mark, and in case you've been away from the Internet and missed it, here's the prize list:

in addition, Cory has a special prize package for long-time members (six months or more and over 500 posts) consisting of a new Chromebook, , a $100 ShopAndroid.com coupon code, a $50 Google Play gift card, and a Lloyd T-shirt from ShopAndroid.com.

It's an awesome list of prizes for an awesome community of members, and we want to make sure you have a chance to enter. You do that by clicking the big link below. You don't want to miss out on this one folks!

Cricket launches its first LTE phone, the LG Optimus Regard

Regional and prepaid carrier Cricket has finally joined the 4G LTE bandwagon with this mid-range device, the LG Optimus Regard. For specs, the Regard has a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, a 3.5-inch HVGA (that's 320x480, ouch) display, a 5MP camera all underneath Android 4.0 with LG's software improvements.

The specs aren't very inspiring, but the price may be. The Optimus Regard will be available at $249.99 (no contract required), on monthly plans with 2GB of data for $50. Which is hard to pass up if Cricket is your carrier of choice, but there's probably more value in other handsets out there if you're willing to switch carriers. Take a look at more of the details at the source link below.

No, T-Mobile, your Nexus 4 doesn't have a microSD card either

Oh, T-Mobile. What ever are we going to do with you? So you're selling the Nexus 4 on contract. That's crazy enough. And then you got folks thinking it would have your snazzy Wifi calling. Which of course it was never going to have. And now your damn product page for the Nexus 4 is showing it as having 16 gigabytes of internal storage, plus it's expandable up to 64GB with a microSD card.

Only, it doesn't have a microSD card, T-Mobile. It never had one. And it never will. Perhaps you've heard the legions of Android fans bitching about that for a couple weeks now. No? Well, we can't help you there.

Yes, text does look a bit different in Android 4.2

Stronger text and improved kerning in the new version of Jelly Bean

Do things look a bit ... different ... since upgrading your Galaxy Nexus or Nexus 7 to Android 4.2? Turns out there's one change in the new version of Android that hasn't been documented at all until now. In the new version of Jelly Bean, Google's made some very subtle, but sweeping tweaks to the way text is rendered throughout the OS.

If you look closely at our animated GIF above, you'll see that text in 4.2 is slightly bolder with smoother edges and improved kerning (letter spacing). This applies throughout the UI, in emails, web pages and other applications.

We've spotted Google's new text rendering stuff on the Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 7, so it looks like it's a system-wide change, rather than a graphics tweak tied to any particular hardware. On the whole, this makes for slightly clearer on-screen text that's a little more pleasing to the eye. (And the improved kerning is sure to keep design geeks happy, too.)

We've got another GIF showing the differences in text rendering in 4.2 after the break.

Are there any other little tweaks you've noticed in 4.2? Let us know in the comments.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 now available on T-Mobile

T-Mobile today announced the availability of their version of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 tablet. You can snag one now online for $399.99 on a two-year contract after mail-in rebate. Though the AT&T or Sprint models have LTE included, the T-Mobile version is about a hundred bucks cheaper.

Of course, this all pales in comparison to the now-available Nexus 10. Would anyone actually be interested in getting a Tab 2 10.1 with the N10 available as an option? For that matter, are there any other high-end Android tablets worth considering? Even if you were still in the market for a Tab 2 10.1 after all that, why go with T-Mobile?

Google Voice update fixes Android 4.2 compatibility

When the final version of Android 4.2 rolled out to Nexus devices yesterday, Google Voice users noticed a nasty bit of incompatibility between the new software and the app. Whenever a new text message was created and a recipient added, the app would come crashing to a halt, preventing messages from being sent.

Fortunately Google's acted swiftly to address this issue, and a new version of the Google Voice app is available right now from the Google Play Store. The new version 0.4.2.66 fixes the issue, so your shiny new Nexus 4 (assuming you were able to pick one up) should be fully compatible with Google's telephony service.

You can grab the latest version of Google Voice for Android at the Play Store link above.